Monday, May 1, 2017

Prelude to Insurrection (The Dragon Songs Saga Prequel) by J.C. Kang

Release date: May 1, 2017
Subgenre: Epic fantasy, Asian fantasy 

About Prelude to Insurrection

Only an orphan half-elf spy can avert a rebellion before it starts.

Jie’s superior senses have made her the perfect lookout. Now, as the adopted daughter of the Black Lotus Clanmaster, she wants to prove her pointed ears aren’t a liability when she’s tasked to infiltrate a rebel lord’s castle.

In this prequel novelette to Songs of Insurrection, Jie must decide between her duty to the emperor and her sense of compassion toward the downtrodden. No matter her choice, it will have explosive consequences for her, the realm, and the upcoming war.

Excerpt:

 

Jie’s eyes stung. The duel had nearly claimed her fingers, but she’d finally vanquished the last of the onions. Just in time, too, as Lord Shi’s seven-year-old son, Ren, reached for the platter of candies. He tripped over a rock and stumbled toward the roasting pig in the fire pit. With a sweep of her hand, she caught him by his silk sleeve, avoiding an unsavory addition to dinner.
            The servants’ collective gasp might’ve sucked all the air from the outdoor kitchen.
            Nursemaid Lan covered her mouth in a silent scream. When she finally found her voice, her tone straddled anger and relief. “Sneaking out again? If you don’t behave, Young Lord, the Black Fists will kidnap you and turn you into a sneak-thief.”
            Jie buried a snicker. Frustrated mothers leveled the same empty threat in every home throughout the realm. Never had an unruly child been spirited away in the middle of the night by the boogieman.
As the adopted daughter of the Black Lotus clan master, she’d know. After all, most Black Fists were orphans like her; and rather than becoming thieves, they served as the Emperor’s spies, defending the realm from threats the citizenry would never know about.
            Threats like Ren’s father, Lord Shi.
            She straightened the wailing brat’s embroidered green robes. The only thing the pudgy kid could defend the realm from was the legions of sweets he vanquished. She knelt down and pressed his next conquest—a sugar pastry—into his palm. With only the rebukes of the Black Lotus masters to draw on, she summoned her most mothering voice. “No bones broken, no tendons torn, you’re okay.”
            Either her words and gentle tone had soothed him, or maybe the candy could take credit. The lordling grinned with fat cheeks. Bits of tongue pressed through the gaps in the lines of enameled soldiers. His adult teeth might never replenish his ranks for his war of attrition against sweets.
After all, he’d likely die in the imperial army’s surprise assault.

Amazon

 

About J.C. Kang:

JC Kang's unhealthy obsession with Fantasy and Sci-Fi began at an early age when his brother introduced him to The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, Star Trek and Star Wars. As an adult, he combines his geek roots with his professional experiences as a Chinese Medicine doctor, martial arts instructor and technical writer to pen multicultural epic fantasy stories.

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